Athletic supporter



I -HAM Jan. 19, 1954 J. H. WEATHERBY 2,666,431

ATHLETIC SUPPORTER Filed June 19, 1952 fig. 2.

Inventor Jb/m V il emfiery, by K Patented Jan. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES ATHLETIC SUPPORTER John H. Weatherby, Natick, Mass.-, assignor to Weather-by Bros., Natick, Mass., a copartnership Application June 19, 1952, Serial No. 294,343

Claims.

This invention relates to athletic supporters or jockey straps, so-called, and has as its object the provision of a novel and improved supporter which will provide greater comfort to the wearer and improved retention of its position in place.

on the wearers body.

To these ends, the invention provides for the construction of the pouch or sack v.of the supporter out of a knitted fabric, rendered elastic through the inclusion of rubber strands or cords, which is inherently concave both transversely and lengthwise as it comes from the knitting machine. This concave shape is produced by inserting the rubber cords in the selvages of the fabric under tension,or under greater tension, size, or numbers than any rubber strands inserted intermediate the width of the fabric when the latter are used. The contraction of the selvage rubbers gathers the marginsv of the fabric lengthwise so that the length of the selvages is less than that of the intermediate portions of its width, thus making the fabric concave in both dimensions. A length of this fabric is usedto form the pouch of the supporter after the usual manner by being cut across the fabric to form an end for attachment to the waistband of the supporter, and cutting out a flaring V-shaped piece from the other end and stitching together the edges of the V-shaped cut thus made. Thus a true pocket shape of the pouch is attained by bringing the selvage rubbers together at the seam at the lower end of the pouch, since these rubbers act like a drawstring to contract the margins of the pouch into a true pocket shape. The margins of the pouch are both shorter than the middle and are pre-curved to fit perfectly along the groin line. 7

The physiological advantage of the improved pouch construction is that it provides maximum comfort and support without displacement of the parts to be supported, i. e., it does not pull such parts into or under the crotch, to the discomfort or injury of a wearer engaged in strenuous sports or activities. In the conventional supporter made of inherently flat elastic fabric, only a rough approximation of the desired rounded concavity of the pouch can be attained, an'd'the parts intended to be supported are insteadforced down or back into the crotch and unequally compressed into conformity with the physical shape of the pouch. In the novel supporter, by contrast, the pouch is pre-shaped to' fit the parts, and to support them with a minimum of distortion and displacement. Further, it does so without distortion of the fabric such as is needed and relied on in prior devices to form initially fiat fabric into a pouch, with consequent unequal strains on the component fabric inviting early failure thereof;

In certain instances, resort has previously been made to knitting the'fabric with zones of different consistency 'or'mesh in the effort to attain conformity while relieving the pressure at The resulting fabric when,in the piece is char-' locations where lessened pressure is desirable, as I well as for purposes of ventilation. These features are automatically attained through the use of the fabric employed herein, and without the use of tuck stitches or other departures from a standard porous knit mesh of uniform texture and ample substance throughout its width and length. No new machines or techniques are required in its use. When the fabric is seamed in conventional manner to form thebottom end of the pouch a transverse fullness is automatically obtained at the lower end of the pouch which cannot be secured to the same degree with flat fabric. At the same time, the curved selvages provide pro-formed conformation to the groin line at each side, and locate and maintain the pouch in proper position on the wearers body, with increased comfort to the wearer and with greatly lessened opportunity for displacement, or for lateral escape of the parts.

Additionally, the fullness along the vertical middle lines of the pouch relieves the waistband from the greater part of the downward pull and inevitable sag at mid-abdomen imposed by the prior reliance on the pressure of the supported parts to form the pouch into its desired shape, when a fiat fabric is used.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a detached length of the fabric.

Fig. 2 shows an athletic supporter employing such fabric.

The elastic fabric I of Fig. 1 is knitted of any desired non-elastic fibrous yarns and with a uniform stitch, preferably a rack stitch, throughout its entire length and breadth to form a fabric of uniform width and unlimited length, though of course any suitable or desired stitch may be used. Covered rubber strands 3 are laid in the selvages, preferably being inserted in alternate wales beginning with the second wale in from each edge. Three or four of such covered rubbers are usually sufficient. These rubbers are preferably inserted in these zones under sufficient tension to contract the selvages to at least one-half the length of the knitted fabric when extended to its limit in the lengthwise direction, or to about 60% of the fabrics normal relaxed length when the rubbers are absent or removed. For added resilience and better support in the finished article, individual covered rubbers 5 are preferably inserted at spaced intervals throughout the width, but preferably inserted under only sufficient tension to enable them to be easily handled in the knitting operation, and effecting a contraction of the normal relaxed lengthof the knitted fabric of from 5% to 10% at most.

acterized by being sharply curved both transversely and lengthwise, the curvature in each dimension being a single or simple continuous curve. The radius of curvature in the lengthwise direction is onthe order of five to six inches when 3 a fabric of about 6 inches in width is in unstressed relation but with the fullness or gathering visible in Fig. 1 removed from the portions.

ideally to the shape, functions, and special needs of the pouch of an athletic supporter. When out in short sections and laid flat as shown in Fig. 1, the selvages l lie fiat and assume concave curvatures and diverging relation to each other. The intermediate portions Q, of greater length than the selvage portions, are characterized by a fullness which stands in humps or undulations produced by the gathering effect of the selvage warps. These portions are not gathered to a significant extent by the spaced rubber cords 5, which are normally inserted under so" little tension that" the natural contraction of the knitted fabric when taken. from the machine brings them to completely relaxed relation. Any desired amount of tension of' the rubbers and resultant contraction of the portion e'may of course be effected when desired.

The novel su porter of Fig. 2 comprises a waistband I I made of a length of elastic woven webbing having its ovenappingends joined at it by stitching. The fabric I is used to form the pouch it"; by cutting off a suitable length of the fabric preferably along the courses thereof, and cutting and seaming such length along its median line at one end. in such manner that the rubber cords 3', 5, lying in parallel relation to each other above the starting. point of the seam are brought together each with its corresponding opposite number at the other side of the median line fol lowed by the seam, to meet at successively greater angles until the selvage rubbers Sof one sel-- vage are each in axial alignment with the corresponding rubber 3" of the other selvage. This is simply and easily effected through the use of the well known Wilcox 8a Gibbs fiat-lock sewing machine, in which the cutting and the seamingtogether of the opposing cut edges are performed simultaneously and progressively. The machines operation is started at the desired. point IQ on the middle line of the length of fabric I, and the operator merely twists the extremities of the selvages and adjacent portions atone end ofv the length offabric inward at progressively greater angles until the selvage rubbers 3 are end to end and in co-alignedrelation, during the formation of the seam IT. The piece cut off and" discarded has the shape of a V without.- wardly curved or flaring sides. While it is not essential to twist both selvages 90 or more out of their original lie, and an oblique relation of y 4 abutting at midlength against-the end" of fiat lock seam IT at 2| and extending for half its length along each of the two selvages I which meet at the two selvages at the end M of the seam is adequate for many purposes, the described relation is preferred for general use, to keep the pouch out of the crotch.

The plain end of the pouch I5 thus formed is attached to the waistband I I symmetrically with respect to seam I3'by rows of stitches 29 which also hold a binding. tape 31 in place over the seam.

The usual leg straps 23 are provided by a continuous uength of woven elastic webbing con taining rubbers, of which the free ends are at.- tached to the waistband II at opposite sides of pouch I5 by rows of stitches 25 disposed in angular pattern. The Webbing is folded obliquely at midlength and the fold is attached by a seam 21 Thus made, the margins of the pouch formed by the selvages 'Iare precurved in two dimensions to fit'the groin lines of the wearer perfectly, while the longer and fuller zone between the selvages supports the intended parts with a minimum of fiattening,-- distortion, and displacement of the latter; Strains on the fabric forming the pouch are evenly distributed, except along the margins, where the selvage rubbers take the strain off of the knitted stitches. The tight fit of these margins prevents escape of the supported'parts and lateral slippage of the pouch, and attains this result without a corresponding increase in pressure on the included parts, which. has been a characteristic source of discomfort in prior de- VlCGS.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be em"- bodied, I am aware that many modificationsmay' be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to the details of construction thereof, but

What I do claim is:

1. An athletic supporter having in combination a waistband, leg straps, and. a pouch of' knitted fabric, such fabric being, rendered elastic.

by the inclusion of rubber elements, the latter contracting the fabric to a greater extent at the lateral edges of the pouch than at intermediate portions of the width thereof.

2. An athletic supporter having, in combination a wastband, leg straps, and a pouch of knitted fabric, such fabric being rendered, elastic by the inclusion of rubber elements, the latter precurving the pouch both transversely and lengthwise.

3. An athletic supporter having in combinationv a waistband, leg, straps, and a pouch of knitted fabric, such fabric being, rendered elastic. by the inclusion of rubber elements, the latter exerting a greater contractive effort in.the zones at the.

sides of the pouch than in the areas intervening between such zones.

4. An athletic supporter having in combination a waistband, leg straps, and. a pouch of. knitted fabric, such fabric being rendered elastic by the inclusion of rubber elements therein, the margins of the pouch being rendered shorter than intervening portions of the pouch by differences in the contractive effort of the rubber elements in the respective locations.

5. An athletic supporter having incombination a waistband, leg, straps, and a pouchof knitted. elastic fabric, such fabrichaving rubber elements of relatively greater contractive effort in the lateralv margins and rubber elements of relatively lesser contractive effort in the zones intermediate the margins.

JOHN H. WEATHERBY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Date 

